Bill Schoening is an American sportscaster who is currently the radio play-by-play voice of the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home ...

, a position he has held since the 2001–2002 season. As of the end of the 2021–2022 NBA season, he has called 2,020 consecutive Spurs games. Prior to his work with the Spurs, Schoening broadcast for the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and a ...

for 12 years, calling football, basketball, and baseball games. Schoening is a four-time winner of the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

"Top Texas Play-by-Play Award," and also won the 2014 Texas Sportscaster of the Year Award from the

National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association The National Sports Media Association (NSMA), formerly the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, is an organization of sports media members in the United States, and constitutes the American chapter of the International Sports P ...

. In August 2022, he was announced as an inductee into the

Texas Radio Hall of Fame Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by bo ...

. In addition to his work with the Longhorns and Spurs, Schoening has also broadcast

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

, and

arena football Indoor American football, or arena football, is a variation of gridiron football played at ice hockey-sized indoor arenas. While varying in details from league to league, the rules of indoor football are designed to allow for play in a smaller ...

games. Outside of sports broadcasting, he has released multiple CDs of original songs as a singer-songwriter, and has also published a book entitled "Stories, Sports, and Songs: Tales and Tunes by a Play by Play Lifer."

Early life

Schoening grew up in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, Pennsylvania, and decided at an early age that he wanted to be a broadcaster. One of his early influences was

By Saam Byrum Fred Saam Jr. (September 11, 1914 – January 16, 2000) was an American sportscaster. He was best known as the first full-time voice of baseball in Philadelphia. Early life Saam was born in Fort Worth, Texas, where he attended high school w ...

, who was broadcasting games for the Philadelphia Phillies when Schoening was growing up. Schoening attended

West Catholic High School West Catholic High School is a private Catholic college preparatory secondary school in Grand Rapids, Michigan (U.S.). It opened in 1962 with loans from Kenowa Hills Public Schools. It is located within the Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids. ...

and one year at

Temple University Temple University (Temple or TU) is a public state-related research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1884 by the Baptist minister Russell Conwell and his congregation Grace Baptist Church of Philadelphia then calle ...

, before transferring to the American Academy of Broadcasting in Philadelphia. After graduating from the six-month program, he got his first job in radio in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

Early career

Schoening worked in

Pana, Illinois Pana is a small town in Christian County, Illinois, United States. A small portion is in Shelby County. The population was 5,199 at the 2020 census. History The area around Pana was first organized as Stone Coal Precinct in 1845. The county's ...

for about a year, before moving to Lamesa, Texas. In Lamesa, he did radio broadcasts for the Lamesa High School Golden Tornados, including football, basketball, and baseball games. He spent three years in Lamesa before moving again, this time to

Huntsville, Texas Huntsville is a city in and the county seat of Walker County, Texas. The population was 45,941 as of the 2020 census. It is the center of the Huntsville micropolitan area. Huntsville is in the East Texas Piney Woods on Interstate 45 and home ...

. Schoening began in Huntsville at age 23, broadcasting games for Sam Houston State University, including basketball, football, and a little baseball. He stayed in Huntsville for six years, from 1983 to 1989.

University of Texas

In 1989, Schoening was hired to broadcast sports for the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

in Austin. During his first three years in Austin, Schoening served as the color analyst on

football and basketball, with play-by-play announcers Brad Sham and Jerry Trupiano. After Sham and Trupiano left, Schoening was hired to take over play-by-play for both Longhorn football and basketball, a position he would hold for nine years (through 2001). During this time, Schoening's primary color commentator was Craig Way. Schoening also did play-by-play for Longhorn baseball for all 12 years he was in Austin. During his time in Austin, Schoening also hosted an afternoon sports radio talk show, first at KLBJ, and then at KVET, after the latter gained the rights to broadcast Longhorn games. He sometimes had co-hosts for these shows, including Jeff Ward and Craig Way. One of these talk shows titled "Sportsday," which Schoening co-hosted with Ward, won a 1996 "Best of Austin" award from the

Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogra ...

for "Best Talk Radio Show."

San Antonio Spurs

In September 2001, Schoening was hired as the radio voice of the

. Because of the timing of the hire so close to college football season, Schoening called games for both the Spurs and Longhorn football during the fall of 2001. As of the 2021-22 NBA season, Schoening is in his 21st season with the Spurs. During that time, the Spurs have won four NBA championships (in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2014). In addition to calling games on the radio, Schoening has also written a blog for the official Spurs website, entitled "20 Second Timeout."

Personal

Schoening lives in Austin with his wife, Gerry. They have two sons: Eric, who is a

meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists in research, while t ...

with the

National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an agency of the United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weather-related products to organizations and the public for the ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

, and Karl, a sports broadcaster who has called a wide variety of sporting events, including the

Austin Spurs The Austin Spurs are an American basketball team in the NBA G League based in Cedar Park, Texas, and are affiliated with the San Antonio Spurs. The team plays their home games at H-E-B Center at Cedar Park. The team has made the postseason in 8 ...

, the

University of Texas at San Antonio The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) is a Public university, public research university in San Antonio, Texas. With over 34,000 students across its four campuses spanning 758 acres, UTSA is the Education in San Antonio, largest universi ...

, and high school football.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schoening, Bill American radio sports announcers Baseball announcers Basketball announcers College football announcers NBA broadcasters College basketball announcers in the United States High school football announcers in the United States High school basketball announcers in the United States Living people Radio personalities from Philadelphia San Antonio Spurs announcers Texas Longhorns baseball announcers Texas Longhorns men's basketball announcers Texas Longhorns football announcers People from Lamesa, Texas Year of birth missing (living people)